On May 8, 2017 NPR’s Rob Stein and Jessica Boddy reported “Life Expectancy Can Vary By 20 Years Depending On Where You Live” and “The Forces Driving Middle-Aged White People’s ‘Deaths Of Despair” based on the research findings of Anne Case and Angus Deaton. Today the rich become richer and the poor die sooner, by as much as twenty years. Less access to health care and steady employment in high poverty areas lead to higher mortality rates. The differences start during the 1980s when everyone had an average lifespan of 61.2 years. By 2017, the rich lifespan is 86.8 years, while the poor lifespan has not increased at all.